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Open Access Publications from the University of California

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At the convergence of the fields of social work, urban planning, and policymaking, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs identifies and develops emerging areas of research and teaching and cultivates leaders and change agents who advance solutions to society's most pressing problems.

UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

There are 1114 publications in this collection, published between 1986 and 2024.
California Policy Options (134)
131 more worksshow all
Department of Public Policy - Open Access Policy Deposits (170)

How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors?

We examine the effects of a quasi-experimental unconditional household income transfer on child emotional and behavioral health and personality traits. Using longitudinal data, we find that there are large beneficial effects on children's emotional and behavioral health and personality traits during adolescence. We find evidence that these effects are most pronounced for children who start out with the lowest initial endowments. The income intervention also results in improvements in parental relationships which we interpret as a potential mechanism behind our findings.

The Right to Education Act: Trends in Enrollment, Test Scores, and School Quality

The Right to Education Act in 2009 guaranteed access to free primary education for all children in India ages 6-14. This paper investigates whether national trends in educational data changed around the time of this law using household surveys and administrative data. We document four trends: (1) School-going increases after the passage of RTE, (2) Test scores decline dramatically after 2010, (3) School infrastructure appears to be improving both before and after RTE, and (4) The number of students who have to repeat a grade falls precipitously after RTE is enacted, in line with the official provisions of the law.

167 more worksshow all
Department of Social Welfare - Open Access Policy Deposits (126)

Current and Future PrEP Medications and Modalities: On-demand, Injectables, and Topicals

Purpose of review

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a potent HIV prevention strategy, but uptake of daily oral PrEP remains low. This review covers PrEP agents currently available and agents and modalities under investigation.

Recent findings

Injectable ARV preparations have high acceptability among users but are likely to require adherence to 8-week interval injections. Topical microbicide gels and vaginal rings have underperformed by intention-to-treat analyses in efficacy studies, at least in large part due to challenges with adherence and/or sustained use. However, daily oral TDF-FTC also underperformed in randomized, placebo-controlled trials compared to expectations and subsequent real-world pragmatic use. On-demand (2-1-1 dosing strategy for MSM) and injectable PrEP appear to be acceptable among participants in clinical trials. These modalities are particularly compelling alternatives for individuals who either do not want to take a daily medication (both on-demand and injectable) and/or want to take PrEP without a long commitment (on-demand). Emerging modalities such as vaginal films, microneedles, and subdermal implants have numerous advantages but are still in early stages of development.

Structural Inequities and Social Networks Impact Hormone Use and Misuse Among Transgender Women in Los Angeles County

In order to reduce gender dysphoria and combat stigma, transgender women often affirm their gender through social and medical transition, which may include cross-sex hormone therapy. This study examined associations between medically monitored hormone use and hormone misuse (non-prescribed hormone use including "fillers"), structural inequities (access to housing, health insurance, and income), and social network dynamics among 271 transgender women in Los Angeles. Hormone use status was coded trichotomously (hormone use, hormone misuse, no hormone use), and robust multinomial logistic regression as well as novel social network analysis was conducted to examine associations. Results demonstrated that younger, African-American/Black transgender women were most likely to engage in hormone misuse compared to transgender women who were older or non-African-American/Black. One-third of the sample reported sex work as a main source of income, and this group was more likely to misuse hormones than those with another primary source of income. Transgender women with access to stable housing and health insurance were most likely to engage in medically monitored hormone use. Social network analysis revealed that transgender women with a greater number of hormone-using network alters were most likely to misuse hormones, but that using the Internet to find transgender friends mitigated this association. Results demonstrate the multifaceted risk profile of transgender women who use and misuse hormones, including that social networks play an important role in hormone usage among transgender women.

Matched Child Savings Accounts in Low-Resource Communities: Who Saves?

This study examines variations in saving behavior among poor families enrolled in a Child Savings Account program for orphaned and vulnerable school-going children in Uganda. We employ multilevel analyses using longitudinal data from a cluster-randomized experimental design. Our analyses reveal the following significant results: (1) given the average number of months during which the account was open (18 months), families saved on average, USD 54.72, which, after being matched by the program (2:1 match rate) comes to USD 164.16-enough to cover approximately five academic terms of post-primary education; (2) children's saving behavior was not associated with quality of family relations; it was, however, significantly associated with family financial socialization; (3) family demographics were significantly associated with children's saving behavior in the matched Child Savings Account program; and (4) children enrolled in some schools saved better compared to children enrolled in other schools within the same treatment group.

123 more worksshow all
Department of Urban Planning - Open Access Policy Deposits (353)

Regulating Traffic by Controlling Land Use: The Southern California Experience

American attitudes toward transportation planning have recently undergone significant change. For three decades after the end of World War II, public policy emphasized the construction of new highway and transit facilities in order to remove the backlog of needs which resulted from the combined effects of depression, a war economy continued urban growth, and accelerating automobile ownership. For the most part, there was consensus among transportation policymakers that their primary goal was to accommodate growth by constructing facilities which would have adequate capacity to handle future demand. It was understood that land use patterns and economic development were the sources of traffic, yet there was general agreement that transportation policy should aim to accommodate forecast land use and economic growth rather than to regulate them in order to control traffic.

350 more worksshow all
Other Recent Work (1)